A new McAleese & Associates report says Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) saw its sales rise 22 percent to $8.2B in the first quarter of 2019 and recorded a sector operating profit growth of 27 percent.
Jim McAleese, founder and principal of McAleese & Associates and a 2019 Wash100 winner, wrote the Falls Church, Va.-based defense contractor posted $12.3B in contract awards during the quarter with a total backlog of $57.3B and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.5x.
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems reported $1.4B in Q1 2019 sales and an operating margin of 11.6 percent, while the company™s technology services business reported $977M in first-quarter sales and an operating income of $102M.
Sales of Northrop™s aerospace systems sector rose 7 percent to $3.5B in Q1 2019 driven by B-21, F-35, Triton, E-2D aircraft programs and space initiatives, while the mission systems segment posted $2.9B in revenue and a 3 percent increase in operating profit.
Northrop CEO and a 2019 Wash100 winner Kathy Warden discussed several programs at the company™s April 24 earnings call. These include the U.S. Army™s Integrated Battle Command System; the U.S. Air Force™s 2020 decision to buy the U.S. Navy™s AARGM-ER anti-radar missile for F-35 stand-in attack missile; and the innovation systems segment™s growth in hypersonic offense missile programs, McAleese noted.
The report also mentioned Northrop™s move to establish a œresiliency and rapid prototyping space division, which mirrors the Air Force™s space rapid capabilities office and the Department of Defense™s space development agency.
